Employee Turnover and Retention Strategies Dissertation

Introduction

Organizational changes and financial turbulence are the main reasons for both voluntary and involuntary employee turnover in any organization. If a company wishes to recruit a raw candidate, it has to spend a lot on recruiting, training, placing and employing that new candidate into its workforce. If such trained recruits and well experienced personnel leave the organisation, the organisation would loose heavily both financially and administratively.

The main cornerstone of any organisation is its high performing employees. If such high performing employees started to leave the organisation, then it signals some warning sign that the organisation is in bad weather. Further, there exists negative kinship between turnover and performance and employee turnover seems to be the major conclusive evidence , signalling that high paid employees would less likely to desert than low paid employees.{ Hong & Chao 2007:217). If an organisation is frequently looses high paid employees , then it has to invest more on training , rehiring and employing new recruits in their position.

However, attrition by low paid employees may not hamper the growth of an organisation as it will easily recruit new employees in their place and these low paid employees may not be bestowing to the fulfilment of an organisation’s vision and mission.

What is employee turnover?

Employee turnover is a serious benchmark issue. Since, it includes recruitment cost and filling vacancies, loss of productivity from jobs remaining vacant and the costs associated with imparting of training to new recruits , enhanced operating cost which lessen output, and eating into corporate profits. The costs of employee turnover estimation may differ widely and based on whether all cost elements are taken into considerations.

There are three well-authenticated components of employee turnover cost are as follows:

• Staffing costs – This includes the expenses relating to the recruitment of job applicants like job-board postings or advertising, checking out the background of the applicants, past track record , prior employment checks, medical screening, and so on.
• Vacancy — while a situation remains vacant, the productivity will be paralysed and the productivity of the overall company staggers to cope with being understaffed.

Training – The time of substitute employee, other temporary employee’s time and valuable possessions like online courses, workbooks, training fees, documentation that completion of training and time and amount spent to train each new associate and to smooth the progress of their changeover to full productivity. This being a technology oriented era, recruitment is being made with use of technology like online skill test, psycho analytical and objective test. Online job test also helps employer to minimise employee turnover as it enhances employee motivation and job satisfaction.

What is the Average Turnover Rate?

For all industries, the average employee turnover rate is about 24% per annum. It is somewhat greater in the “Retail” industry and ranges approximately about 40%and slightly lower in others like transportation, it ranges about 17% and in manufacturing it ranges about 13%.

The effect of employee turnover

For any business leader, appealing, developing and retaining talented employees should be the number one priority and this is due to ever increasing employee turnover, an aging population, and a contracting workforce, thus, retaining the talented employee is like a war for talent and offers executives and managers with the mechanism that is required to win that war.

In the recent past, companies have gone to combat over product leadership, quality, price, and customer service. However, now the next great corporate struggle will be the war for talent. The top management and coaches of all flourishing sporting franchises are personally aware that their future success reckons on their capacity to magnetise and retain talent. Thus, retaining the talent has become number one priority now. According to Business Week that over the next decade, about 22% of senior management and 25% of all other management positions across all industries, regions, functions will become vacant.

Further, a shrinking workforce, aging population, and a growing intolerance for the illegal immigrant population that offer majority of the unskilled labor in the US as of today and one is going to have a talent and labor crisis of monumental proportions in the near future Enticing and retaining talented people is going to be the number one precedence of every CEO or manager who is very serious about gaining the struggle for talent.

Realising the significance of retaining talented employees, Capital One, a leading bank in U.S.A has taken many steps to attract talented and to retain the talented in the organisation by offering more fringe benefits and attractive pay pockets. This research essay is going to analyse the Capital One’s employee’s retention strategies in detail.

Capital One and Employee Attrition

Capital One is the leading bank in USA. Besides banking operations, it also engaged in debit and financial merchandises and other credit card merchandises and services. Capital One is the leading American Credit card issuing company with an outstanding of $ 35.3 billion and having 44 billion accounts. It had $ 109 billion in deposit and is having about $ 147 billion in managed loans outstanding as on December 31, December 2008.

In United States, Capital One is the fourth largest issuer both Master card and Visa credit cards and is the tenth largest depository institution on managed credit cards outstanding in U.S.A. Besides operating all over U.S.A, Capital One is also operating in Europe through Capital One Bank (Europe) as an indirect subsidiary of COBNA, UK and is having branch in Canada.

Capital one is engaged in diversified banking operation concentrating mainly on commercial and consumer lending and accepting deposits from public. The main business segments of Capital One are National lending and local banking. Capital One local banking segment includes the company‘s branch national deposit collection activities, treasury services. Its commercial business segment includes the domestic consumer debit and credit card activities. The national sub-lending segment of Capital One includes its international lending sub-segment and its auto finance segment.

Its local banking segment used to offer customary banking products mainly through an extensive branch network in Louisiana, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas and New York. Its different products under this section includes consumer and commercial loans , consumer and commercial deposits scheme , treasury management services.commercial credit cards , trust services and other banking associated products like brokerage , insurance ,investment and merchant services. Further, the Local Banking segment provides liquid accounts like money market and time deposits like certificate of deposit accounts mainly through internet channels.

Further, its card sub-segment division offers a broader range of business and credit card and small business products. It also offers unsecured closed-end loans on whole of US market which Capital One specialised in customising to needs of varied consumer preferences. Brand advertising is extensively carried to propagate their product offerings.

Their customoised products contain products offered to a broader range of consumer credit risk profiles and products concentrating on consumer’s special interest. Under auto finance sub-segment, Capital One buy retail instalment contracts, secured by used and new automobile or other motor vehicle loans through its dealer networks in US market. Further, under direct market scheme, it offers auto finance facilities directly to end users through internet. It also offers refinancing of customer’s current motor vehicle loans. In the auto finance sector, Capital One is the fourth largest non-captive provider in US as of December 31 2008.

Both in UK and Canada, it offers credit card products across the consumer risk spectrum. In the first quarter of 2009, Capital One will conclude acquisition of Chevy Chase Bank F.S.B which is the largest depository institution in Washington D.C area in an approximately $ 20 million deal.

As of December 31, 2008, Capital One employee’s strength is around 25,800. Capital One is giving more significance to its man power and thus it calls its employees as “associates “rather than staff. Capital One (CO) considers that its central part of its philosophy is to maintain and attract a highly competent staff. Further, CO always holds its relations with its current associates to be cordial and satisfactory. One of the specialties of CO is that none of its workforce is covered under a collective bargaining agreement. (Form 10-k 2009:10).

About three-fourths of its employees are non-exempt employees who are called as phone associates who have been employed in call centres. Approximately, CO employs roughly 3,000 call –centre based associates every year. This is mainly to keep equipped with its growth since from the early 1990s’.

CO is badly needed to explore mechanisms to redefine its hiring practices. CO is well aware that to meet its increasing demand of 40% growth in the need of associates , it is finding arduous to cope with high rate of employee turnover and to explore novel means to recruit and retain quality call centre associates , to minimise employee turn over and cost associated with it and to maximise its turnover.

Thanks to its patented software IBS which helps it to gather data and employ the same from profiling customers to administer their accounts , verifying managerial and performance of employees and finding and training the apt people.

It had high employee turnover in 1998. Capital one knows employees are the assets of the company and they are essential to maintain 40 billion accounts. In 1998 and in 2002, 2008 it faced high employee turnover or attrition.

Capital One employed various strategies to retain the employees and also to attract more employees. Thus, by employee retention, it has realised that it can add more value to the company.

Objectives

This research is going to analyse why some employees leave even well paid jobs? I am going to use the following objectives in this research study: 1)Examine the relationship between high staff retention and low employee turnover, 2)Assess the impact of relative HR policies on Staff Retention(general HR Policies used; not specific to CO) and 3)Examine methods of improving Staff Retention at CO through the use of improved HR Policies.

By using the case study of Capital One , a leading bank and issuer of debit and credit card company in USA, this research essay analyses why there high rate of employee turnover in CO despite of the fact that it offers many facilities like amenities centre , liberal pay package , retirement benefits , stock options scheme to its employees. Further, there is a direct link between job performance and employee turnover. This research will analyse why high paid jobs with so much liberal benefits like Capital One is witnessing high rate of employee turnover. Main reasons for the high employee turnover in Capital One will be analysed in length and breadth in this research essay.

Literature Review

Employee retention is the method of deliberate and conscious attempts to preserve the quality individuals who contribute more to the company. It is the stimulus strategies employed by most successful companies to check the drain on the company revenues caused by excessive employee turnover. Employer retention is mirrored in their occupational injury rates. Fewer accidents are being sustained by these companies and this is not magical. There will be low employee turnover rates when liberal benefits and high compensation are offered. It is to be noted that there is direct correlation between fewer injuries/accidents and low employee turnover. Likewise, there is direct link between high employee retention and low employee turnover.

Some of the employee retention techniques are enumerated as follows

It is to be noted that an organisation should have in place a concise job description in writing for each position so that employee and supervisor understands without ambiguity what is to be expected from them. For all employees, periodical performance analysis should be completed for each employee. Both positive and negative feedbacks have to be highlighted as a constructive feedback arrangement. Thus, employee performance analysis will also serve as an effective management tool for training, retention, promotion and reassignment decisions.

One of the reasons cited by the employee who relinquishes his employment abruptly is that unhappiness over the company’s training program. To obviate this, “life skills” training is being imparted nowadays not only to augment productivity but also to increase retention. As an employee retention measure, this type of training is being imparted over the last few years. (Keith, Wertz & Bryant: 27).

If pay package of designed in such way to include either all or a combination of more than four of the following will always see that there is always high staff retention and low employee turnover:

• Attractive salary or wages
• 401-K savings scheme
• Dental / Medical insurance
• Paid holidays
• Flexible working time
• Stock options scheme (ESOP)
• Child Care
• Relaxed dress code
• Wellness Programs
• Employees assistance program
• Birth day party

Employee retention and low turnover rate can be achieved if employees experience growth in their employment by being awarded with recognition and responsibility. Employee should not be demoralised and rather they should be encouraged to develop a sense of pride and remain longer if they feel secure and content in their job. Appreciation of employee’s performance will always increase the productivity.

Labour turnover has pivotal effect on the profitability of a business as the real cost of replacing employees is very high. Normally, a turnover costs include the following:

• The exit interview – its cost and time consumption
• The obliterated cost of lost production, due to low self-esteem among the existing employees who have to pick up the slack.
• Job opening advertising costs
• New candidates interview and its associated cost
• Training cost for the new employee

Further, high turnover may bring following negative impact to any business.

• Lower operational efficiency
• Lack of innovation
• Unable to achieve premium price for superior product or service
• Lower productivity
• Increase in exposure to risk (Kearns: 188).

Loss of Knowledge

When there is large employee turnover, the employees who left the organisation will take knowledge that was imparted with them. This includes knowledge of internal processes and systems and knowledge of customers. Further, employees also take with them knowledge of organisational culture and kinships with other employees which helps in accomplishing the work in an effective and efficient style.

High Costs

The cost of hiring new employees will include costs of advertising, interview and testing time. Travel expenses incurred for hiring new employees or travelling expenses reimbursed to those candidates who attended interview will also form part of the recruitment costs. Moreover, new employees will take at few months to settle down in their job and hence it will less productive for some time. It is estimated that the cost relating to employee who being non-productive in the first six months is about 25%

Termination Costs

A company may have to incur higher unemployment insurance rates especially when employees are laid off due to lack of work. Termination cost also includes extended health benefits and severance pay.

Loss of Output

If an employee resigns and if that particular position is not refilled instantly, the company loses that employee’s output while the position remains vacant. In the late 1990’s, when U.S.A was under strong and vibrant economical condition, this lag time had considerable impact on the financials of any company. For instance, a company’s averages $ 300,000 in annual sales per employee, then a position that remains unfilled for a quarter costs the company about $75000 in revenues.( Dian , Chu & Ban :220).

HR Policies on Staff Retention

The first step in minimising the employee turnover is to have a successful hiring process that screens out those applicants that do have the desired skill sets and characteristics that are essential for them to thrive. For instance, in hotel industry, which is renowned for having high employee turnover average and in some cases, this being 100 percent. However, there are certain reputed hotel chains which are having only less than 20 percent employee turnover.

A major contributing factor for this low rate is the wide-ranging hiring process that probable employees must encounter through before they are actually hired. This process contains deep interviews with many key managers and skill and personality tests to make sure not only that they have technical acumen required, but also they will accommodate well with the cultures of these organisations. (Dian, Chu & Ban: 221).

Communication is the key retention strategy for any organisation. It is said that honest communication always build trust and trust is a pivotal element to retention. To get commitment, there should be trust between employer and employee and both should be open and honest to each other. Some companies have second thought to exchange vital information. However, some companies make it point to inform its employees how much money they made or lost and also let them to know how much it costs to administer a business.

Some companies do have corporate culture that is supportive, inclusive and fun and is regarded as one of their robust retention tools. Thus, the role of HR in aligning with these corporate goals is to safeguard the organisation’s culture and to enable the organisation to meet its obligations to its customers and employees.

If the HR retention policy is strong and vibrant and company is widely admired as a best place to work for, then recruitment cost could be saved substantially by recruiting candidates either from within or through referrals. Such companies would have employees who stick to the company for more than 15 or 20 years and they have been considered to be an asset of the company. Some good companies shall take long time for recruiting a candidate as it know ii being a long term commitment once if they are selected. Finding the right employee for the right job at the right time for the right compensation can definitely take a long time.

As these companies retention rate is more than 96%, employees are really asset to them as they increase both productivity and profits. A good retention policy will also focus on getting the new employee into the position and making certain that the employee is productive and assisting to attain the company’s strategic aims.

Employers should invest more effort in retaining their employees as they spend in recruiting. The recruitment effort not only requires selling the job and organisation but also requires attention to detail and determination and retention.

Some of the prospective HR retention policy includes the following:

• Determining strategic goals and explaining corporate goals for the whole of the employees
• Hiring and employing the apt individuals to help in achieving the corporate aims.
• Designing the benefit pay package that offers work-life balance and financial stability.
• Establishing and maintaining constructive and positive corporate morale and culture.
• Introducing rewards and recognition schemes
• Motivating employees to assist to attain job satisfaction and a high performance culture.
• Supporting and maintaining a diverse workforce.
• Offering development and training opportunities
• Using mentoring and strengthening leaders to engage a thriving workforce

A company’s HR retention strategy is to take care of their employees and managing its HR functions by focusing attention on what is happening in the industry, designing on their own professional development and making certain that they are good HR professionals.

Methods of improving Staff Retention at Capital One through the use of improved HR Policies.

Capital One had high employee turnover in 1998. Capital one knows employees are the assets of the company and they are essential to maintain 40 billion accounts. In 1998 and in 2002, 2008 it faced high employee turnover or attrition.

Capital One employed various strategies to retain the employees and also to attract more employees. Thus, by employee retention, it has realised that it can add more value to the company.

The following are some of the noteworthy staff retention policy pursued by Capital One to retain talented and to reduce the attrition by using an enhanced HR policies.

Data Analysis / Findings

In the year 1998, due to frequent employee turnover issue, CO started to initiate an employer of choice efforts to control attrition and to magnetise talented associates. It earmarked about $30 million for the construction of 121,000 square-foot amenities centre. By employing its IBS (Information –Based Strategy), Capital one assessed the centre to decide, which, if any, other Capital One sites could construct the same amenities centres.

By employing a distinctive approach, CO gathered information from security badges of its associates which were scanned voluntarily when an associate enjoyed an amenity. The effect of amenity centre is to minimise the attrition, enhance attendance and to improve the performance of associates. By appending dollars to these advantages and interlinking this information with estimated usage by site and costs, CO was able to make a well –informed decision on the location of other facilities for amenities centres and the design for particular amenities.

For any organisation, employee turnover can be a major overhead. Whenever the employee turnover is historically high, it would be arduous to manage the turnover costs. Capital One was not an exception to this prolonging issue. Non-exempt call centre associates forms the lion’s share of CO’s workforce. In general, Call Centres have tendency to have high employee turnover as associates incline to move form one job to another or leave simply due to job burnout.

For instance, before 1997, CO was ranked as one of the lowest employee turnover rates in any credit card companies as turnover was within 25%.However, attrition started to increase, averaging about 35% in the year 1998. Though, this 35% is still well below the industry standard, this poignant increase mingled together with lower satisfaction rankings indicated in half-yearly All Associates Survey , indicated a cultural issue that required to be redressed.

To solve the employee high turnover issue, CO started an employer of preference so as to forestall the increasing attrition rate and to enhance the culture at Capital One. As one of the measure to retain associates, it started the initiative of establishing amenities centre as explained above. The amenities centre will have the following facilities like a fitness centre, a gymnasium, two full-sized basketball courts, an aerobic room and a racquetball court. It also has an internet café, full-service bank, a learning centre, a cafeteria, a nail saloon, a company store and a multi purpose room.

The amenities centre was designed in such a way that it occupied the middle floor whereas the HR department occupied other floors. Each candidate for the employment came through the amenities centre on their way to testing and interviews.

HR department footed their appraisal of the cost and benefit for the amenities centre on its overall effect on attendance, performance and retention. The overall benefits were then estimated for other sites, producing a compelling case for or against constructing an amenities centre in each site.

For arriving at cost –benefit analysis, HR analysis team explored the many ways to capture such information on usage and merge it with the other types of information. CO uses survey as one of the way to collect information.

CO observed that many of its key employees have relinquished their service before completing their first anniversary with CO. In exit interviews, they referred that lack of support in switching to their new position as a poignant reason for the resignation from CO.

To obviate this difficulty, CO has come up with a new three-tire on boarding process namely “the New Leader Assimilation Program” (NLAP) with the sole aim of enabling new leaders to start returning business results within their first 3 months on the job.

Thus, when a new recruit has joined the CO, he will be given a detailed company profile on the first day at the office. This corporate profile will usher them whatever they need to know about the company, the job, corporate culture and instead it offers them a great picture.

Later at the week end, the new recruit will meet his boss to get explained about goals, to elucidate expectations and to foster developmental action strategies for delivering outcomes during the first quarter immediately after their appointment. The boss will employ the information what he gathered about the new recruit , analyses mainly its intriguing perspectives and to propose such as executive coaching or study lessons from internal sources that could be most beneficial to the new recruit.

It is to be observed that according to Korn /Ferry international survey, less than one third of executives are contented with their organisational on boarding process. However, an astounding 33% consider it below average or poor.

Further, CO witnessed a brisk growth since 1995; the company has been in the atmosphere of constant flux. Management of CO is under the impression that due to the introduction of new structures processes and performance benchmarks, employees were subject to suffer from high stress levels and hence there was a large employee turnout.

Further, the annual survey conducted in the year 2002 disclosed that employee’s confidence has fallen to drastic low levels. There had been also a distressing increase in employee turnover and sickness leaves both long and short duration. This had caused a financial stress on the company’s financials in the immediate preceding 12 months and management thought that was to be addressed on warfront efforts.

Managing the stress level among the CO employees is given top priority. CO management has given the job of stress reduction to an UK based consulting agency namely Ceridian. Ceridian found that a mixture of management support and employee ownership would constitute the foundation of a thriving stress reduction process.

Overall stress during the employment was said to be one of the key factor for quick employee turnover in CO. Stressors for each individual are alike and their response also vary and hence any remedial measure is to be flexible and include stress management programmes and bespoke training for different employees.

Ceridian was successfully minimised the number of employees ailing from stress and also it taught employees to search for efficient means of bidding goodbye to stress and assist managers to identify and forbid probable stressors for their team.

Employees were also participated in a survey which searched in to means to enhance their own work structure and forwarded recommendations to the board of directors.

Ceridian found that an efficient stress management process is one which must forbid stressors even before they have a negative effect on employee performance and health levels.

Further, to keep employee morale high and to make them more binding to the organisation, CO has implemented the following welfare schemes and employee benefits.

CO is employing an “associate performing administration procedure “that stresses fulfilling business targets while making sure compliance, integrity and health business management organising capabilities. CO has incurred $221 million by way of rewards program to its employees on reported basis and on managed basis, CO incurred about $ 709 million as of 31 December 2008. CO’s cost associated with rewards program in the year was around $183 million on a reported basis and about $602 million on a managed basis.

CO has paid to its associates $ 30 million by way of dividends on the equity shares held by associates during the year 2008 and 2007.

Stock Purchase Plan

To retain employees, CO is offering an associate stock purchase plan. This plan is a compensatory scheme under SFAS 123 R. Thus, CO has recognised $ 4.3 million, $5.2 million and $ 4.8 million during 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively. Thus an associate of CO can opt for obtaining of yet to be issued treasury or common stock of the corporate through salary deductions scheme on monthly basis with a maximum of fifteen percent and with a minimum of one percent of their base pay payable on monthly basis.

ESOP (“Employee Stock Ownership Plan”)

CO is maintaining an “internally supplemented employee stock ownership plan” (ESOP) in which major all erstwhile employees of Hiberrnia, which was acquired by it earlier has participated. In tune with the merger agreement entered with Hiberrnia, the assets of ESOP trust was reserved exclusively for the advantage of employees of Hiberrnia and its subsidiaries.

A sum of $ 4.4 million and $ 6.2 million was recorded as compensation expenses for the year 2008 and 2007 respectively by CO.

Defined Contribution Plan As Retirement Plan

CO subsidises a “contributory Associate Savings Plan “in which major full -time, permanent and part-time employees are entitled to take part. CO offers contributions to each entitled associate’s payment by equalling a share of contribution by an associate and also some discretionary contribution based on some metrics. Thus, CO has contributed to this scheme totalled to $ 110 m, $74 m and $71 m during the year 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively.

Severance Benefits

During the middle of 2007, CO has announced wide efforts to minimise expenses and to enhance cost position of the company. Due to continued economic deterioration, CO has expected to incur about $30 million for the severance benefits to employees who have been laid off. Employee termination benefits paid both the executives and associates was $ 86 million and $ 67 million for the year 2008 and 2007 respectively. (Form 10-k 2009:125).

Entrepreneur Grant

CO is extending stock option scheme to its senior management employees. Further, it also offers annual cash incentives, Senior Executive Retirement Program and annual option grant.

CO excellent pay structures contributed to the low employee turnover rates. As we have already seen through its amenity centre, it offers recreational facilities like fitness centre, basket ball court, a subsidised food court, a generous employee retirement scheme and an employee share purchase scheme. Though, CO is paying an average salary, the total compensation package for its employee falls in the top 10% in the industry. CO is also paying a bonus scheme which is directly linked to the individual’s performance.

In the initial period, the attrition level was around 40%. Later, it was brought down to the level of 10% which is the average in the industry. In the study conducted by the HR department of CO, it was revealed that amenities was in fact reduced the chances for an average worker leaving the company by 1.07%. Taking into the cost estimation of attrition, the employee turnover savings caused by amenities centre had in fact offered a saving of $ 530,000 or $ 200 savings per associates. As of December 2008, CO employee’s strength was around 25,800. Hence, as of December 2008, CO was able to save $516,000 in employee attrition.

Further, the associates who utilised the amenities centre availed less sick leave and family care time which resulted in an annual savings of $ 579,000 or $230 per associate.

Impact of reduced attrition.

Impact of Enhanced Attendance on leave used.

Before opening of the amenities centre, associates had been abusing the attendance program which resulted in sickness absenteeism and this was totally reduced when amenities centre was opened.

Effect of improved attendance on productivity.

The research by HR department of CO also found that when the amenities centre is ‘apt sized’ for the population to reap maximum advantages of the amenities centre, the yearly net benefit would be around $ 107,000.

The research also clearly establishes that amenities centre had larger effect in transforming the culture than any single amenity.

To retain employees, CO is offering the best training and development schemes to its employees. It has won for the second consecutive year “Training Top 100 awards” of the Training magazine for one of the best companies in USA. It also pledged its commitment to employee volunteer programs that cater strategic business aims and redresses serious social issues.

One of the strategies perused by CO in employee recruitment is that it recruits workforce from varied backgrounds, work experiences, belief, and life and communication styles.

Using latest technology for training

Currently companies are espousing wireless technologies in various aspects of their business. Training departments have started to employ this model to deliver training to employees. The dawn of wireless and mobile devices connotes that Internet-based functionality and applications can be delivered to PDAs, smart phones and mobile phones producing an almost unending list of hypotheses for delivering the training. (Hartley 2006)

Two distinctive translations of multi-media delivery comprise the “pod-cast” using the iPod or other digital media players and the mobile or kiosk replica which has pre-audio learning outcomes in mobile instruments that can be communicated with. Capital One is an illustration of a large business organisation that has adopted this design. They deliver Apple iPods as standard instrument for any employee admitted in a training session.

Since CO management is of the opinion that their associates may not have time during the average workday to attend to a training session, they have developed an audio based course that facilitates associates to take the training on their own timetable. “Audio learning facilitates the user to move at their own speed, and if there is material they fail to understand or want to assess, it’s as simple as just hitting the “reverse” key and listening again.” Despite of the fact that results are yet to be empirical assessed, Capital One is of the opinion that since its associates are able to augment their productivity by not neglecting their “regular” work for training, CO is “making more turnover and income with lesser associates.” Thus, portable technology like Apple iPods acts as an incentive to the associates to add more value to the job and has reduced the attrition. (Sussman 2005)

Conclusions

Employee turnover is a significant indicator signifying the over all health of an establishment or any industry in terms of industrial relations, wages, other welfare facilities and working conditions offered by the employee to the employee. Higher rate of employee turnover, the larger will be lack of stability in the work force, which in turn, may not be regarded to be favourable to the efficiency of the employee. To attain higher productivity of employee, it is necessary that work force remains committed over a long phase of time. Employee turnover assesses the degree of change in the work place due to new appointment (total strength of employees added to employment) or departure (severance of employment at the will of employers or workers) during a specific period of time.

To solve the employee high turnover issue, CO started an employer of preference so as to forestall the increasing attrition rate and to enhance the culture at Capital One. To obviate this difficulty, CO has come up with a new three-tire on boarding process namely “the New Leader Assimilation Program” (NLAP) with the sole aim of enabling new leaders to start returning business results within their first 3 months on the job.

Managing the stress level among the CO employees is given top priority. CO management has given the job of stress reduction to an UK based consulting agency namely Ceridian. Ceridian found that a mixture of management support and employee ownership would constitute the foundation of a thriving stress reduction process. To retain the talented employees, CO has introduced reward program, stock options, attractive retirement benefits and liberal medical insurances. In stock options, the real benefit is achieved when the stock prices climbs up since CO has crafted a company of owners.

Further, Co is offering three weeks leave in the first year of employment in Capital One and makes survey with the employees biannually mainly to understand the grievances and mentality of its employee’s.Co is also offering benefits to employees up to 9 percent as company’s contribution to their 401 (k) scheme. To retain employees, CO is offering the best training and development schemes to its employees. It has won for the second consecutive year “Training Top 100 awards” of the Training magazine for one of the best companies in USA. It also pledged its commitment to employee volunteer programs that cater strategic business aims and redresses serious social issues.

One of the strategies perused by CO in employee recruitment is that it recruits workforce from varied backgrounds, work experiences, belief, and life and communication styles. CO believes culture and people that are basis of lasting competitive benefit. CO also shun away from hierarchical corporate systems and various signoffs that hinders its efforts in achieving new things.

Managing the stress level among the CO employees is given top priority. CO management has given the job of stress reduction to an UK based consulting agency namely Ceridian. Ceridian found that a mixture of management support and employee ownership would constitute the foundation of a thriving stress reduction process.

It is to be observed that according to Korn /Ferry international survey, less than one third of executives are contented with their organisational on boarding process. However, an astounding 33% consider it below average or poor.

Further, CO witnessed a brisk growth since 1995, the company has been in the atmosphere of constant flux. Management of CO is under the impression that due to the introduction of new structures processes and performance benchmarks, employees were subject to suffer from high stress levels and hence there was a large employee turnout.

Further, the annual survey conducted in the year 2002 disclosed that employee’s confidence has fallen to drastic low levels. There had been also a distressing increase in employee turnover and sickness leaves both long and short duration. This had caused a financial stress on the company’s financials in the immediate preceding 12 months and management thought that was to be addressed on warfront efforts.

Ceridian has recommended the following stress reduction strategy. They can be classified as primary, secondary and territory.

A primary intervention search into the basic causes of stress among employees and will introduce procedures and policies to assist to eradicate them. They search into the following:

• Internal Communication strategy
• Strategies followed during recruitment process
• The functions of IT systems
• Heavy workloads
• Analysis of performance management
• Designing and introducing a stress policy

Secondary strategies are those which assist employees the best means to manage with their own personal stressors and they include the following:

• Courses on stress and anger management
• Improvement of communication skills
• Programmes for stress resilience
• Techniques of relaxation

Tertiary strategies are one which contrived for those employees who are already suffering from indications of stress and managers who need to help them who are under stress and pressure. These contain the following measures:

• Counselling at on-site.
• Recommendation to EAP
• Evaluation of sickness processes and policies.
• Initiating action strategies for long term absentees through “return to work” program.

By mixing the above three strategies , Ceridian was successfully minimised the number of employees ailing from stress and also it taught employees to search for efficient means of bidding goodbye to stress and assist managers to identify and forbid probable stressors for their team.

It is to be remembered that professionals always evaluate the cash compensation offered by an employer as a basis of yardstick between ranks in competitive business organisations. It is important that cash component can be regarded as a total package with a number of constituents like cash element, non-cash fringe benefits and performance or incentive based compensation. If an organisation is having low cash compensation, then to obviate attrition it should concentrate on to establish a best recruiting and retention strategy that stresses the cash value of non-cash advantages like educational assistance, vacation and retirement etc and this provides an opportunity for incentive compensation to equalise into that equation.

For certain designations in certain organisations, the nature of position either it may part-time or flexible or the nature of work either mission-focused and creative and the nature of the reporting structure either decision making or autonomous might improve the value to the employees. Co should develop for enhancing its recruitment and retention strategies by analysing its fundamental data like turnover rate, vacancy rate, employee retention strategies and contrasting its compensation to ‘market rates.’

Further, studies have proved that employee respect corporate that have family-friendly values. One study reveals that a company preserved about $ 70 million per annum due to low turnover which is due to their perquisites like health care facilities, on-site subsidised child care centres, a swimming pool and a fitness centre. Corporate that creates a family-friendly work atmosphere which helped them for retention of employees. Some studies reveal that there will be high employee turnover if there is high burnout and high stress which may result from an inability to cope with both the professional and personal life.

For instance, to attract women with children to job market, an employer has to offer many family support schemes. One of the ways to assist employees to have balance over their family needs and work is by offering either flexible or part-time work.

Thus , part-time or flex time employment helps to reduce high turnover and absenteeism and permit people who cannot devote their time to full-time employment due to family and professional tension. It is to be noted that about 70 percent of organisations employ part-time employees who were once employed as full-employees by the company. According to survey made by Catalyst revealed that those employees who switched from full-time to part-time employment reported in increase in morale, productivity, commitment to the company and retention. (Phillips & Connell 2002:175).

Reasons For Frequent Employee Turnover

A high level of employee turnover could be happen by many factors and some of the important factors are listed below:

• Poor wage levels compelling the employees to switch loyalties to competitors
• Low levels of motivation and poor morale within the employees
• Enrolling and training the wrong employees in the first place helping them to leave to seek more prosperous employment at the cost of company expenses.
• An upbeat local employee market contributing more and perhaps more striking opportunities to employees.
• Uninteresting and unchallenging positions
• Employees insight of poor supervision
• Employee is having gut feeling like there is no promotion opportunity in the organisation
• Compensation is not in tune with the job requirements
• Elsewhere there exists an opportunity for higher compensation

Recommendations

Capital One to retain the talented and to avoid frequent employee turnover has to learn from the fellow corporate and try to follow their footsteps in extending non-fringe benefits that will go a long way for Capital One to retain the talented with it.

For instance, the software development company namely SAS Institute of Cary, North Carolina had been adjudged as the hundred paramount companies to work for in U.S.A by the Fortune magazine. This company stands as a replica how a giving philosophy can return considerable yield a high return –on-investment. To become a best employer of choice, it is giving out the following to its employees. This not only avoids high turnover but also increases the loyalty and bond of the employees with the company.

SAS offers the following fringe benefits to its employees to motivate their morale.

1. On daily basis, the workout clothes are laundered.
2. Providing an “A” class on-site child care centre in the state.
3. Games pavilion like volley ball , ping pong and billiards
4. Dance classes, tai chi, tennis and golf.
5. Cafeteria with the background of piano music.
6. Health clinic
7. No restriction on sick holidays
8. A coordinator for elder care
9. Company gates close promptly at 6 p.m and won’t open until 7 A.M in the morning. Hence, there won’t be late sitting or overtime.

Critics may name it as “tree huggery”. Some others may name it as “employee utopia”. Some may feel that SAS is spending too much to retain their key employees beyond the company’s financial acumen. For SAS, it is not a wasteful expenditure but a right kind of investment for attracting talented people to its workforce for accomplishing its business strategy.

However , SAS is not offering any stock options scheme and offers salary structure that is equivalent to its competitors offering , the company has able to achieve a turnover of 3.7 percent which is well below the 20 percent of industry average.

The Kansas City –based Hereford House restaurant also realises the generosity of giving before getting. It well aware that its experience bearers will fetch by average $1 per table than inexperienced bearers and hence it offers fringe benefits like tuition fees up to $1200 per annum per experienced bearer and insurance who has completed at least one year of service.

Some of the fringe benefits offered by the companies that have been designated as ‘Best companies to work for in America” by the Fortune’s annual list are enumerated below:

Though CO is offering stock purchase plan , ESOP , retirements benefits , severance benefits and entrepreneur grant to top executives, it has to offer more liberal fringe benefits all of the above or any mixture of the above to attract more talented to its workforce and to retain the existing workforce without any attrition.

Capital One has to identify proper solutions to the stress issues faced by the Nottingham call centre employees and to apply the same to all other employees working in US and Canada if it wants to retain its talented work force with it. If uncontrolled, stress among employee may end up in high employee turnover and low employee morale.

CO on investigation realised that one of the main reasons for employee attrition was stress. It asked its employees in Nottingham in UK to maintain stress diaries. The employee diaries not only exposed the specific reasons for the stress, but also indicated a strong binding between employee turnover and stress. It took appropriate steps to push out stressors and combated employee turnover. The same principle should also be applied to its other centres in U.S.A and in Canada. (Robert et al 2006: 138).

List of References

Branham Leigh. (2001). Keeping the People who keep You in Business. New York: AMACOM.

Cumming Susan (2004). HR Networking. Chicaco: CCH Incorporated.

Hays, Scott, (1999). Capital One is Renowned for Innovative Recruiting Strategies. Workforce.Vol.78. (4) 92.

Jardine, Edith and Amig, Stacey. (2001). Managing human Capital. Behavioral Health Management.Vol.21 p22 CCH Incorporated.

Kearns Paul (2003). HR Strategy: Business Focused, Individually Centered. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Keith R, Wertz & Bryant James J (2001). Managing Workers’ Compensation. London:CRC Press.

Philips Jack J & Adele O Connell.( 2002). Managing Employee Retention: Impact, Analysis, Solutions and ROI. Butterworth: Heinemann.

Robert P, Gandossy, Tucker Elissa & Verma Nidhi. (2006). Workforce wake-up call. London: John Wiley and Sons.